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SOCHI – International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said he found the pictures and videos of the attack on Russian punk band Pussy Riot "very unsettling" but characterized it as a civic issue, not an Olympic one, even though the band performed in front of the Olympic rings in downtown Sochi on Wednesday.

Adams said the governor of the Krasnodar region has expressed regret about what happened and is looking into the issue.

"It's largely an issue for the Krasnodar governor, and he's expressed strong disapproval of what happened," Adams said.

There were a number of witnesses to the incident, which occurred outside a downtown Sochi restaurant. As band members put on their signature balaclavas and attempted to perform the song "Putin will teach you to love the motherland," members of the Cossack militia emerged, using whips and pepper spray against the group.

Cossacks were hired by local authorities as an extra security force surrounding the Olympic games.

Pussy Riot's attorney, Alexander Popkov, told USA TODAY Sports that three members of the group were hospitalized to treat injuries from the attack.

Around 10 p.m. local time, band member Maria Alyokhina tweeted a photo of fellow band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and said: "Lying with Nadya on beds next to each other in a hospital."

Earlier, Alyokhina tweeted a photo of a man, who participated in the action, with a bloody cut over his left eye.

Thursday morning, the group re-emerged at a news conference outside a hotel in Adler. The press conference coincided with the release of their new music video, which included footage from Wednesday's altercation.

Later, Tolokonnikova Tweeted that the group was at the airport, then encouraged fans to meet them at a courthouse in Moscow on Friday, ostensibly ending their tour of Sochi.

Adams said the IOC "requested more details" from the Sochi 2014 organizing committee regarding the Cossack incident but felt confident the Olympic charter was being respected.

"I would purely say that it's a shame if the Olympics is used as a political platform, and that's what we've always said," Adams said. "We saw yesterday the strong feelings on both sides that these sorts of things provoke, and that's why we ask the Olympics not used as a platform for people to express views and we will continue to say that."

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Members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, told USA TODAY Sports that they were beaten with whips by Cossack militia members outside a downtown Sochi restaurant Wednesday.
(USA TODAY, USA NOW)